6 Tips to Become More Confident Giving Speeches

July 13, 2017

After the initial nerves have settled, there are several steps you can take in order to make you a more engaging and confident speech giver. While a lot of confidence comes from how much experience you’ve had in the past, there are definitely some extra pointers that’ll give your approach to public speaking more of an interesting twist, ensuring your audience isn’t left asleep in their chairs.

Practice makes perfect

If you’ve ever seen Barack Obama speaking in front of a crowd, you’ll notice that he very rarely (if ever) actually looks down at his notes. Reading directly from a piece of paper will lead to losing the attention and interest of the crowd. Therefore, practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the less you’ll need to refer to your notes.

Keep a comfortable pace

It’s a natural human reflex to speed up our speech when we’re nervous (so we can leave the spotlight and get back into our comfort zones faster!). If you feel as though you’re pacing too quickly, simply take a good breath in and release it while surveying your audience. This will help ground you and you can then continue on at a more comfortable speed.

Take a firm stance

You’re there to speak, not dance. So don’t make the mistake may make while speaking publicly and walk around in small circles – it’s distracting and is actually a telltale sign that you’re nervous. Instead, plant your feet shoulder-width apart and stand firm. This will also prevent you from rocking back and forth between feet.

Incorporate hand gestures

When you’re up there delivering a speech, it’s akin to someone telling a story. And if you’ve ever told a story, you can imagine how difficult it would be to do so while sitting on your hands. Utilise your hands and your speech will become much more animated and interesting for your audience. If you’re a bit unsure of your abilities, practice in front of a mirror until you get the hang of it.

Inflection is imperative

A monotonous voice will send any crowd to the land of nod. Safeguard yourself against snores emanating from your audience and inflect your voice where necessary.

Keep natural eye contact

You don’t need to make individual eye contact with every single person in the crowd – this may well prove impossible. Instead, find a few friendly faces out there early on and jump between them so you’re not misconstrued as flighty or jumpy.

Taking these on board can really make a huge difference in how your speeches are received, and can in turn make you a much more confident public speaker.